10 Most Depressing Video Game Endings

Video games have really evolved a lot in the last decade or so, with advanced graphical capabilities allowing developers to reach out to our emotional side in more creative and unique ways. The result?

Video games are getting a whole lot more complex and heart-wrenching, and if you’ve pumped 30 or 40 hours into a game, why the Hell shouldn’t they be? Of course, we all love a nice happy ending after triumphing over adversity, but these games had different ideas.

A depressing ending can leave a far more pronounced, lasting effect on the viewer if done right; of course, some games are going to just indulge in downright misery porn (we’re looking at you, Silent Hill), but if developers pitch the emotion just right, they’ll have a game that we can’t imagine ending any other way. Whether for the best or not, here are the 10 most depressing video game endings of all time…

10. Conker’s Bad Fur Day

From appearances alone, you’d probably think that Conker’s Bad Fur Day was a harmless video game about a profane squirrel who is trying to save his girlfriend, and for 99% of its play-time, you’d be right. Rare, however, opted to deliver a gut-punch of a climax in the final five minutes of the game, as you do battle against what is essentially a Xenomorph from the Alien series.

Just as the alien lunges, the game freezes, and in one of gaming’s finest instances of breaking the fourth wall, Conker laments the fact that Rare didn’t quality-test the game properly.

A Rare developer then jumps in to award Conker with a katana, which he promptly uses to kill the alien, and is then crowned King of the land, before coming to the sad realisation that Berri, his girlfriend, is still dead, having been murdered moments before the final fight by Weaso.

Conker asks the developers to bring her back to life, but they’ve already left, the ultimate metaphor for a God who exists, but doesn’t really give a s**t. Conker laments his own attitude, saying he shouldn’t always be wishing for more, and then the game ends.

There is no consolation whatsoever; a post-credits scene shows Conker getting drunk in the pub and drunkenly heading out into the world during a thunderstorm.

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Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.